Blogging temporarily on hold...

Excuses to follow :) Stay tuned...

(During my 30 day challenge I found out I was 4 weeks pregnant. It was too early to tell anyone but I could NOT get on with my blogging challenge with such news on my brain. So there, excuses excuses... I hope to redo my 30 day challenge one day!) 

Day 13 - 30 day challenge

Crushing on this nail color right now!

Just a sweet, feminine, soft pink for your fingers and toes!

{these are not my fingers}

 Something Fun:

 See Martha Stewart's Natural DIY Manicure

Day 12- 30 day challenge

Home again in Denver! Does it feel like summer is pretty much over to you? I feel like it is! I still see the summer food magazines, hear the summer advertisements on the radio, but it's nearly August and summer is on its way out. Is it just me? Not that I'm ready for summer to be over. I think I just have had such a good one with travels and boating and suntans and dresses - I'm looking forward to a 70 degree day after this current heat wave! 11 straight days of 95 plus in Denver. Strange.

Have a look here...

What is that you say? LEAVES! Leaves are falling from our trees already!

Highlight:

Getting home, feels nice to sleep in my own bed

Low-light:

Nada, really!

Something Fun:

IKEA OPENS TOMORROW!!!

Day 11 - 30 day challenge

We went boating on Lake Michigan!

Highlight:

Getting to see the river and Lake Michigan

Low-light:

Crazy drunk people from Jersey!

Something Fun:

• Lake Michigan, by volume, is the second largest Great Lake and the only one located totally within the United States.
• Lake Michigan is the third largest Great Lake by surface area (behind Lake Superior and Lake Huron).
• Lake Michigan is the 5th largest lake in the world.
• Lake Michigan discharges into Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac at a rate that allows for a complete change of water about every 100 years.
• Every inch Lake Michigan rises or drops equals 390 billion gallons more or less water in the lake.
• The lake forms a link in a waterway system that reaches east to the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence Seaway and south through the Chicago River locks, to the Mississippi River and on to the Gulf of Mexico.
• Over 43 percent of all Great Lakes fishing is done in Lake Michigan.
• More than 10,000 ships have sunk in the Great Lakes - with 3,000 of those in Lake Michigan.
• Lake Michigan contains the world’s largest collection of freshwater sand dunes.
• The Sleeping Bear Plateau is a 4 square-mile field of dunes, crowned by Sleeping Bear Dune, the highest dune in the state, rising to more than 440 feet above Lake Michigan.
• The word "Michigan" was originally used to refer to the lake itself, and is believed to come from the Ojibwa Indian word mishigami, meaning "great water."
• Lake Michigan is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.
• Lake Michigan is the largest freshwater lake in the United States.
• The Petoskey stone, Michigan's state stone, is composed of a fossilized coral, and the only place in the world it is found is on Lake Michigan beaches in northern Michigan.
• Lake Michigan was formed during the last Ice Age as glaciers advanced and then retreated across the region, creating large glacial lakes.
• The sand on Lake Michigan beaches in southwestern Michigan is often called "sugar sand" because it resembles grains of sugar in size and purity. The sand is also referred to as "singing sands" because of the squeaking noise, caused by high quartz content, made when walking across it.

Day 10 - 30 day challenge

It's hard to blog while on vacation! I forgot to last night so here's our day yesterday...

Spices!

And of course, LOTS of cheese!

Taking a break from the sun

Entering the Festa Italiana downtown Milwaukee - Lakeside park

Looking towards the city

Taking the gondola ride!

Highlight:

Seeing the city

Low-light:

Mmm... don't really have one. Finding parking.

Something fun:

Gondola ride!

Day 9 - 30 day challenge

I'm blogging from my phone due to lack of wireless... this is new and bothersome... today has been a wash, like yesterday. We made it to Milwaukee in time for dinner... and thats about it!


no photo today folks. or formatting. or correct grammer and spelling. or something interesting for that matter. sorry.


highlight: arriving


lowlight: dropping my pup off at day care

Day 8 - 30 day challenge

Well, instead of being in my moms living room in Milwaukee catching up, I am in my living room in Denver watching Brunch with Bobby while Geof works late. This = the low-light of my day. Flight was cancelled today but I'm heading out tomorrow. I'm making sure to relax and pretend I'm on vacation - no sense in being upset, really. I have really awesome travel luck so no complaints!

Here are some photos I took earlier this week after picking up Geof from his work trip. We are quite familiar with the trip to DIA.

Welcome to Denver

Storm over the mountains - It is monsoon season in Colorado

Love these sculptures - and the grass is never so green as it is now!

Heading West

Maybe because it is always so sunny here, they put up cloud sculptures?  Anyone know the story?

Highlight of the day:

Taking the day off to pack and get the house ready for our trip to Milwaukee - Taking the pup on two slow sunny walks

Low-light:

Cancelled flight - Geof working late

Something Fun:

 Fun Facts about Denver International Airport (one of my all time favorite airports, btw)

• The Jeppesen Terminal roof is made of a Teflon-coated fiberglass material that is as thin as a credit card.
• The four busiest airports in the United States - Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles International, and Dallas Fort Worth - could all fit into DIA’s 53-square miles of land.
• Denver International Airport is one of the world’s greenest airports. We also have the largest solar farm at a commercial airport in the United States.
• The airport contributes over 22 billion dollars a year to Colorado’s economy.
• Denver International Airport was one of the first airports in the United States to integrate art into public spaces.  During construction, artists worked with architects to integrate art into the airport. 
• Denver International Airport has the only passenger bridge in the United States where you can watch an airplane taxi beneath you.
• Some people think there’s a conspiracy making our airport the center of a New World Order.  Rest assured the story is definitely a myth.

Day 7 - 30 day challenge

Travels! So far this year I've been going going going. I have been to St. Augustine, FL, Kauai, HI, Richmond and Virginia Beach,VA, and now I'm going to Milwaukee, WI tomorrow! I LOVE to travel, incase you were wondering. HUGE pet peeve = people who say that but never go anywhere. Just freaking GO people! What are you waiting for? GO. { also... Geoffrey might get to come with for a job in the Green Bay area. EEEEK! Fingers crossed for us }

Milwaukee Art Museum

Inside the art museum

 Highlight of the day:

See "EEEK", above! -sending my out of office email! See ya suckas!

Low-light of the day:

Dealing with grumpy-not-a-morning-person-hubby on morning walk - but by end of walk he looked like this:

 (So really, not a bad low-light at all)

Something FUN:

The wings of the "Calatrava" museum open up, then close every day. We saw this last time we were there, pretty neat!

see more about the architect here

Day 6 - 30 day challenge

Well I technically missed day 6 - although I DID have a draft going, just didn't publish it. That still counts right? Oh well - here we go...

Hightlight today: 

Going to Lou's for an early dinner, watching the rainstorm while we had red wine

Low-light today:

Forgetting to publish day 6!

Something fun:

Check out this guys photography, its sooooo awesome! I want a big print of his hanging over my couch!

Day 5 - 30 day challenge

I think I should start out with something fun - don't you agree? It sounds fun...

Something Fun:

I love surfers.

It's hot. I can't really think. It's hot and it's Monday. 

Bleck! :p

Highlight of the day:

Leaving work - sitting in front of the fan - watching the Next Food Network Star 

Low-light of the day:

Taking Geoffrey to the airport - It's 80 in my house right now

Plugging right along with the 30 day challenge, I'm really enjoying it actually!

{ click "30 day challenge" tag below for more }

Day 4 - 30 day challenge

MENUs!

Today I thought it would be fun to share with you what menu items I planned and cooked this week...

But first, here is the lunch spread we're having while watching the world cup! Go USA!

Crudité

clockwise: assorted crackers, baby carrots, pickles, mixed olives, sugar snap peas, spicy turkey jerky, goat cheese with chopped fresh dill, celery sticks, sliced peppers, keifer yogurt dip, edamame hummus - not pictured { see recipe below }

Spruce up some plain chèvre by adding fresh herbs!

Weekly menu:

Garlic and Pepper Steak on the BBQ

Baked yukon potatoes with fresh dill, chives, and Greek yogurt

Wedge salad with keifer dressing, cherry tomatoes, and crumbled turkey bacon

{ inspired by this }

Zinfandel

Tequila lime shrimp on the BBQ

{ inspired by this }

Coconut rice

Veggie kabobs

Coin Margaritas

Vegetarian - no noodle - lasagna

{ inspired by this }

Mixed green salad

Merlot ---> Californian

Edamame hummus, finished with a drizzle of oil and Hawaiian "black lava" rock salts

Edamame Hummus

{ inspired by this }

For breakfast:

Peanut Butter Protein Shake

{ inspired by this }

Highlight today: 

Cooking - taking it slow - enjoying Sunday

Low-light today:

Losing the World Cup...

Something Fun:

Recipe

Day 3 - 30 day challenge

Phew, it has been quite a day! I have spent the day right here in front of my computer - working on my online design portfolio. It really takes SO long to gather all of the work you created over the years, convert and size files, to put it out on the great wide web. Still, it was a fun day! It's been too long since I spent so much time with my mac in one sitting.

Highlight of the day:

Fixing up my design portfolio! 

Sneak Peak here...

Low-light of the day:

Sneezing after putting on fresh mascara! Dang it!!! Mascara fail!

Something fun:

Bill Cosby's Keynote Speech about Staying True to Your Authentic Self

{ go ahead, be inspired }

Day 2 - 30 day challenge

It's Friday! These are images from my backyard before the rain came but after the clouds had rolled in. We put in this patio a few years ago and my vision was to have all of the cracks filled with green moss. Geof's was more of - clean and no green. All of this July rain has started to promote the moss growth and I couldn't be happier! I love it! It helps with water run off on the patio and erosion as well as keeping the stones in place. { and I just loooove green green wet moss }

Highlight:

Throwing together an amazing dinner - using organic and local produce. Hubby is happy :)

Low-light:

Someone giving work 5 minutes before I was supposed to get out for the weekend....

Something Fun:

This guy!

Day 1 - 30 day challenge

north facing

south facing

 Did you know that moss only grows on the north side of trees? I took this picture at a park I like to walk to in the early morning and evening hours. This is a fun tid-bit that I learned while at a tasting room in wine country and I bet it would come in handy if you were on some kind of expedition or amazing race or scavenger hunt, right?

Today's highlight: 

Starting my 30 day challenge, I'm excited! 

Also, having leftovers of this pasta free meat free lasagna! (I omitted the ground turkey)

Today's low-light: 

Being evacuated for a fire drill and missing yoga. Humph!

Something fun:

30 Day Challenge!

I'm a bit of an all or nothing person. This might be apparent in my blogging, if any of you are following. I always have it on my mind, but I either do it twice a day for a few days... or maybe twice a month. I am also a habitual list maker.On my list of upcoming projects is "29 comes before 30" - a bucket list of things to do before I turn 30, which is next year! Yikes! Of course, I will be turning 29 first - in September - and it will be my "golden" birthday. If you don't know what this means: A person's Golden or Grand Birthday, also referred to as their "Lucky Birthday", "Champagne Birthday" or "Star Birthday", occurs when they turn the age of their birth day (e.g., when someone born on the 25th of the month turns 25). Fun right?! With this comes a huge sense of achievement, to stop being so damn all or nothing, to check off my list items, to GO, to DO, to BE.

On a whim this morning while checking the blogs I follow, I decided to prep for my "29 comes before 30" bucket list by doing a 30 day challenge. 

See blog link to video here

And so for my 30 day challenge, I will post one photo each day to my blog. I'm also going to try to do something fun each day. And maybe list the highlight and lowlight of each day. It's a work in progress - just stay tuned, and join me, won't you? What kind of 30 day challenge would YOU put into place, starting now?

Blog love!

Love this - it sounds like "right on" to me, but it's ride on :-) Fun

Sunday fun-day was spent tooling around town on my cruiser with the hubs and the pup! What a goooood day! BUT alas... Monday is here again! One positive about starting the work week is sitting here in front of the computer with ample time to go through the blogs I follow! Who do you follow? How often do you check? Leave a comment and share your blog love with me!

I try to check these every few days, quite a funny variety I have going here so I thought I'd post:

Martha Stewart

YEP! That's right!

ediTORIal 

Blog by Tori Spelling - she's crafty!

Nourish

A college friend and her girlfriends collaborate on this creative, fun, fashionable blog

NieNie Dialogues 

Blog by mormon mommy Stephanie Nielson - capturing her journey through daily life after a near fatal plane crash

Nie and You

Stephanie and "you" - daily photo journal from Stephanie and a different woman she chooses yearly from another country
Cjane Enjoy It
Mormon mommy blogger, Stephanie's sister Courtney, she's witty and I like her

Shutterbean

Cooking, eating, food photography, mothering

A Cup of Joe

Fashion, Design, Photography

Feitelogram

Nick - foodie, improver?, semi-celebrity after staring on one of my fav shows: Bethany Ever After

Kate Spade: Play

Just a whole bunch of cool shit :)

The Italian Dish

Such pretty food photos and recipes too

Mighty Girl

More cool shit - random - and she's funny

Brunch with Darling

Designer, mother, list-maker-sharer

Chef Frank Bonanno

Sort of a big deal chef around Denver - owns Bones, Lou's Food Bar, Mizuna, Luca d'Italia, Osteria Marco

Help Jules Get to Kili

A friend who's about to embark on a journey to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro!

Simply Me

Blog by a creative craft shop owner...

Dashing Dish

Food blog - practical foods with a healthy twist

Oh Joy! 

All kinds of cool pretty things!

Whole Living Daily

I get Whole Living (by Martha Stewart) emails daily, this is the daily blog

Summery Saturday dinner - Surf and Turf!

We spent the day at the Stapelton pool on Saturday and it totally put us in the mood for grilling out! Since I have been trying to eat more locally and seasonally, we drove by In Season Local Market - only to find out they were closed! (and three minutes early, mind you - nothing worse than showing up at 4:57 when they were supposed to close at 5:00) Sunflower Market is our go-to so we kept on, for our collection of summery goodness! I was inspired by some mozerella, beefsteak tomoato, and fresh basil already at home in my fridge and our hand basket looked like this:

Garlic and herb stuffed tri-color cheese tortolini

Deli fresh basil pesto

LOBSTER TAILS! (on sale for $4.99lb!)

A few bundles of asparagus

NY Strip - one to share

Mini Soy Delicious Neapolitan ice cream sandwiches

And in less than an hour, I had dinner on the table - which was a Mediterranean inspired surf and turf that my husband DEVOURED! He's a lucky man, I keep him well fed and know what plucks his heart strings - good food and lots of lovin {Wink}

My plate

Geoffrey's plate

Caprese salad - tastes like summer!!

Fresh mozzerella, beefsteak tomato, tiny bit of white onion, fresh chopped basil, drizzle of grapeseed oil, and balsamic reduction!

Stay tuned for the surf and turf recipe - which I'll post on my recipe blog - The Tin Lunchbox!

What to bring on a beach vacation?

We just got back from 8 days on the North Shore of Kauai. Whoa. That place is INCREDIBLE! I wanted to never ever come back, to forever live in the middle of the blue pacific on the garden island with my toes in the sand and flowers in my hair and ukelele songs playing through my head. The food, the people, the scenery, the sloooowness, the sun, the rain, it was all so very blissful. More posts to come on that, I assure you ;) Until then, I wanted to do a little run down of what I consider 10 essential things to bring on a beach vacation!

 First and foremost - we all love to get sun-kissed, but we have to be smart about it! It's not just about avoiding sunburn, you are protecting your skin from cancer and sun damage for years to come. 

1.Sunblock: Look for a paraben free formula - if you don't know what parabens are, find out here. My favorite brand is Alba botanica, found at any local health food store. Don't wait until you get to the beach to try to buy some, as you may forget and end up with a sunburn that can ruin a beach vacation! 2. Cheap sunglasses: don't bring your most expensive pair! You'll be swimming in the ocean and the pool, then tossing them in your bag when you get to a restaurant, so go buy a few cheap pairs for the trip. 3. Get a beach cover up: You don't want to mess with shorts, t-shirts, and tank tops at the beach, just pull this over and go - pick something that you would feel comfortable wearing into a grocery store or cafe. This one is great because it also has pockets and who doesn't love a dress with pockets? 4. Big floppy hat: Once you get a bit of sun on your face, put a cute floppy hat on - this will help protect your cheekies! A red face = a hot mess...

5. Sandals you can walk in: Don't bring your 4 year old worn out flip flops, as you will likely be doing quite a bit of walking around beachy towns, exploring the sites and sandy beaches. 6. Compact Umbrella: If you're going to the beach, it's probably going to be in a tropical climate, thus a good chance for seasonal rain storms. Don't let it ruin your time, keep a small umbrella in your purse just incase. Also useful for when you've left your hat and you're starting to get too much sun. 7. Maxi Dresses: These are a MUST for tropical weather. Easy, breezy, and the long length is dressy enough to wear to dinner if you want. Pair it with some bangles or a long necklace. 8. Tropical Nail Colors: Pretty fingers and toes make us feel happy and sexy, and on vacation, this is important whether you're with your hubby or maybe looking for Mr. Right... now. {wink}. 9. Shoulder Purse: For hands free walking and a bag that doubles as a beach bag, pick up a cheap over the shoulder purse. Old Navy, $12. 10. Guide books: I can't live without guide books when going someplace new. Foders or Frommers are the go-to's - they will lead you to the best beaches, restaurants, activities, and hidden local spots. Happy travels!